 "Ranji Trophy: Pandey helps Karnataka eke out one-wicket win over Railways")
Veteran batter Manish Pandey conjured all his experience to score an unbeaten fifty that helped Karnataka eke out a nervy one-wicket win over Railways on the third day of their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing a tricky target of 226 to win, Karnataka huffed their way to 229 for 9 as Pandey stayed unbeaten on 67 off 121 balls with six fours and a six.
Earlier, Railway, who resumed from overnight 209 for eight, were bowled out for 244 in their second innings.
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Pacer Vysakh Vijayakumar, who later did his bit with bat as well, was the most successful bowler for Karnataka with a fifer (5/67).
With this win, Karnataka has topped the Group C with 21 points and are poised to enter the knockouts with two more league matches pending.
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After the early departure of opener Dega Nischal (1), Karnataka appeared to be on the right track as Ravikumar Samarth (35) and KV Aneesh (34) guided their side to 70 for 1, adding 69 runs for the second wicket.
But from that point, Karnataka lost three wickets while adding just five runs, slipping to 75 for four as left-arm spinner Akash Pandey (5/94) inflicted a few blows.
They slid further to 99 for six and a victory appeared far at that juncture.
But Karnataka made the first pushback through Pandey and wicketkeeper batter Sharath Srinivas (23) as they milked 34 runs for the seventh wicket.
After Srinivas returned to the hut, Pandey joined forces with an equally feisty Vysakh (38, 63 balls) to amass 64 runs for the eighth wicket as Karnataka inched closer to the target.
Just as they were coasting, Vysakh fell to Himanshu Sangwan and the dismissal of Vidwath Kaverappa (8) left Karnataka to make 12 more runs with a wicket remaining.
But Pandey remained nerveless to collect those runs in the company of Vasuki Koushik (1 not out).
At Ahmedabad, Tripura notched up a big 156-run win over hosts Gujarat to go third on the Group C table with 14 points.
Tripura's second innings, started from overnight 333 for 9, ended at 343 as they stretched their overall lead to 317.
Gujarat could not offer even a smidgeon of fight as they were shot out for 161 in their second innings.
Medium pacer Sridam Paul (3/16) and left-arm spinner Parvez Sultan (3/58) grabbed six wickets equally among them to wreck Gujarat.
At one stage, they were 79 for six and a 50-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Umang Kumar (37, 55 balls) and Siddharth Desai (47, 55 balls) helped them go past the 150-run mark.
Brief scores:
At Surat: Railways: 155 & 244 all out lost to Karnataka: 174 & 2nd innings: 229 for 9 in 82.4 overs (Manish Pandey 67 not out, Vysakh Vijayakumar 38, R Samarth 35, KV Aneesh 35; Akash Pandey 5/94) by 1 wicket.
At Ahmedabad: Tripura: 141 & 343 beat Gujarat: 172 & 161 all out in 52.3 overs (Siddharth Desai 47, Umang Kumar 37, Het Patel 30; Sridam Paul 3/16, Parvez Sultan 3/58) by 156 runs.
At Porvorim: Goa: 241 & 168 all out in 65.5 overs (Suyash Prabhudesai 79; R Sai Kishore 4/82, S Ajith Ram 4/36) vs Tamil Nadu: 273 & 2nd innings (target: 137): 61/1 in 26 overs (S Lokeshwar 34 batting).
At Mohali: Punjab: 477/2 in 107 overs (No play on 3rd day).